Another tube bender is premium choice

Platinum Stairlifts of Keighley has taken delivery of a second all-electric 90 mm (maximum tube diameter) Unison Breeze tube bending machine. The purchase corresponds with Platinum’s move to a new multi-million-pound, purpose-built manufacturing facility in the town, and underpins the company’s faith in the quality, reliability and repeatability of Unison’s British-built tube manipulation technologies.

Stairlift company Platinum invested in its first all-electric Breeze tube bender from Unison in 2015, the same year as it launched its flagship ‘Ultimate’ stairlift.

“We fully appreciated that in order to create an industry-leading, single-tube stairlift we would need to invest in advanced, all-electric tube bending machinery,” says Matthew Turton, production engineer at Platinum Stairlift. “At that time, we were using a hydraulic tube bending machine which, although absolutely fine for forming the rails for our twin-tube stairlifts, lacked the capability to bend the highly complex angles required for a premium single-tube model.

“Having considered the tube bending machines and levels of support offered by a number of manufacturers, we went ahead and ordered our first Unison Breeze machine,” he continues. “A 90 mm multi-stack model, the all-electric Breeze quickly demonstrated its ability to bend tube accurately for even the most challenging of designs, such as complex spiral and multi-flight staircases. In fact, through a combination of twist and draw bending, using Unison-supplied precision tubing, I have yet to see a staircase angle that the Breeze machine has been unable to achieve.”

Installed earlier this month, Platinum’s second 90 mm all-electric Unison Breeze machine will further enhance the company’s ability to produce its Ultimate single tube stairlift in greater volumes.
For further information www.unisonltd.com

Lübke relies on three RAS folding machines

Lübke Baumetal GmbH supplies a wide range of metal solutions for roofs and facades; everything from standard profiles to bespoke productions, nothing is too much for this company from Arnsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia. For Lübke, success rests on first-class products that come from a comprehensive consulting service combined with a fast distribution system.

The most complex step in the production of these precision pieces is the efficient bending of the profiles. That is why Lübke relies on not one, but three RAS folding machines: two GIGAbends and one XLTbend with up-down bending technology and a 45° upper beam. All of these machines are available in the UK from Press & Shear.

Lübke’s love affair with RAS began in 2007 when the company purchased the first GIGAbend bending machine with a working length of 3 m. Another machine of the same model arrived in 2012. At the beginning of 2021, a RAS XLTbend with a bending length of 4 m and a sheet steel capacity of 2.5 mm was added to the already robust folding line-up.

Production manager Jan Rengshausen says: “We can absolutely rely on these machines, both in terms of reliability and bending quality.”

The employee responsible for the up-down folding machine is Christian Hellweg. Using the Bendex software, he creates the bending processes for the drawn or imported profiles. The software automatically calculates different bending sequences and suggests the best variant to the machine operator. Whenever possible, Hellweg tries to apply the profiles from the stop-side.

Says Rengshausen: “We made a comparison with kick protection profiles and needed about 10 minutes for the classic bending of 10 parts. The same parts on the XLTbend were finished after 6.5 minutes: a decisive speed advantage of 35%.”
For further information www.pressandshear.com

New leadership team at Ficep UK

Ficep UK has appointed three directors with 38 years’ combined experience of working at the company. Finance director Pam Allen, sales director Chris Berriman and operations director Richard Clark, now take responsibility for the management of Ficep UK – a steel fabrication machinery supplier – along with existing company director and group CEO, Christian Colombo. The move follows the departure of Ficep UK founder and MD Mark Jones, who stepped down in July after 23 years leading the business. Jones takes on a new role as non-executive director, for a short period.
For further information www.ficep.co.uk

World’s first all-electric jet engine

Scottish start-up Mako Aerospace, based in Dunfermline, has teamed up with the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS), operated by the University of Strathclyde, to manufacture the world’s first all-electric jet engine, which could double the range of electric aircraft compared to current hybrid models. Headed by University of Strathclyde graduates Kieran Duncan and Pia Saelen, Mako is on a mission to realise aircraft electrification using a lighter and more efficient electric jet engine that aims to reduce fuel costs by 70% compared with a traditional turboprop engine.

NMIS engineers are involved in wide-ranging research exploring how the technology could play a significant role in achieving a fully electrical commercial flight. The University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) is providing engineering and manufacturing expertise while also introducing potential supply chain partners from across its network with a view to eventually manufacturing the engines in Scotland.
For further information www.nmis.scot

LVD to showcase smart factory cell

LVD will focus on smart manufacturing by showcasing interconnected sheet metal fabrication processes at EuroBLECH 2022 (25-28 October, Hanover, Germany). On Stand F104 in Hall 12, visitors will see the LVD theme of ‘Shaping Flows’. On display will be a smart factory cell, as well as the latest laser cutting, bending, combination equipment, software and automation, demonstrating flexible solutions to enable a smarter production environment.

The cost-effective smart cell brings to life a smart factory driven by cost-efficient machinery comprised of the LVD YSD LaserONE laser cutting machine, a basic, no-frills fibre laser, LVD Dyna-Cell robotic bending cell for small- to medium-sized parts, and CADMAN software.

According to LVD, Dyna-Cell offers bending automation at a fraction of the cost of traditional robotic bending systems. Designed to keep cost per part low, LVD says that Dyna-Cell costs less than two stand-alone press brakes. It is easy to program the cell, fully offline, in 20 minutes or less, with 10 minutes of program preparation, 10 minutes of tool set-up and first part production.

Also on the stand will be LVD’s Ulti-Form robotic bending system, which handles small batch and long production runs with equal efficiency, delivering high productivity and consistent bending accuracy. Ulti-Form offers a fast ‘art to part’ process, reports the company. CADMAN-B software automatically calculates the optimal bend program and imports bending data to the robot software CADMAN-SIM – no robot teaching is required. SIM automatically calculates gripper positions, generating the fastest collision-free path for the robot, and relays the information back to B, enabling the operator to work with a single program.
For further information www.lvdgroup.com